Leonella Sgorbati

1940-2006 20th century Feast day: September 17

Forgiveness given with the last breath, without strength and without preparation.

Who was Leonella Sgorbati?

An Italian Consolata sister and nurse, she spent thirty-five years in Kenya and then in Somalia, training midwives in a country with no nursing school. She knew the danger and stayed. Shot outside the hospital in Mogadishu together with her bodyguard, she died forgiving.

In their own words

I forgive. I forgive. I forgive.

Last words, Mogadishu, 17 September 2006

I know there is a bullet with my name on it. I do not know when it will come, but as long as it has not come, I stay.

Television interview in Italy, March 2006